With Spring Practice 2014 officially in the books, the official numbers are in for spring game attendance -- and, not so unexpectedly, two conferences again finished head and shoulders above all others.
Of the Top 10 attendance numbers, seven came from the Big Ten and the SEC . Four of those seven were from the latter conference, while three were from the former.
The SEC schools in the Top 10 were Alabama (tops in the nation with 73,506), Auburn (No. 3 with 70,645), Tennessee (68,548) and Georgia (46,073). On the B1G side of the attendance ledger, that conference was led by Penn State (No. 2 in the country with 72,000) followed by Nebraska (61,772) and Ohio State (61,058).
The only non-B1G/SEC football programs to crack the Top 10 were Oklahoma (No. 8 with 43,500), Oregon (No. 9 with 37,129) and Florida State (No. 10 with 36,500).
The best attendance number from a non-Big Five league member? The AAC’s Louisville, which will be moving to the ACC July 1, was No. 16 with 27,500. The best number for a program that will be a non-Big Five member in 2014 was Boise State, with its 13,822 fans coming out for the spring game to put the Broncos at No. 24.
Below are the attendance leaders for each of the Big Five conferences:
ACC -- Florida State (No. 10 with 36,500)
Big 12 -- Oklahoma (No. 8 with 43,500)
Big Ten -- Penn State (No. 2 with 72,000)
Pac-12 -- Oregon (No. 9 with 37,129)
SEC -- Alabama (No. 1 with 73,506)
And, for those who are curious, the lowest reported total for a spring game this year was the 300 -- yes, that’s a three followed by two zeroes -- who made their way to Air Force’s annual spring finale.